The Art of Love & Hate

Chapter 3

The aftermath after Darya took Aemond's eye. 10 year time jump. I hope you guys like it 🥰

Things were chaos after what happened between them, the guards had taken them all to the great hall where a maester was called to tend to Aemond. Darya could not look at her uncle, hating that things had gone so far. She did not want to hurt him, but she could not allow him to kill her brother. She knew that most of what happened was her fault, she should have never allowed her brother and cousins to go after him. She should have called for a guard sooner, now they were all in trouble.

The king was in a rage, yelling at the kingsguard and demanding to know what had happened. She was not afraid to admit she was afraid and wanted her mother, but she did not know where her mother was, nor her father.

The queen was kneeling next to Aemond as the maester sowed the boy's eye shut. "It will heal, will it not, maester?"

"The flesh will heal," The man answered with a deep sigh. "But the eye is lost, your grace."

Darya stopped herself from sobbing at the look on the queen and her grandsire's face. She had taken her uncle's eye, that was not something that the queen or uncle would be inclined to forget. To Darya's surprise, the queen's anger turned to her eldest son, and the slap she gave him echoed around the room.

She heard hurried footsteps and looked towards the stairs where her grandmother and grandsire were. The princess looked distraught as she searched for her granddaughters. "Baela, Rhaena! What happened?"

Her grandsire Corlys looked around before walking closer to her and her brothers. Darya did not say anything, but relief filled her when the doors opened and her mother walked in, followed but her uncle Daemon.

"Jace, Darya!" Her mother ran to them, looking at her eye, which was almost swollen shut at this point, and checked Jace over. "Who did this?"

Everything became chaos after that, with her brother and cousins throwing accusations as everyone attempted to talk at the same time. Darya stayed quiet, knowing that she would not be heard over the yelling and there was not a lot that could be said. They had attacked Aemond and she had taken his eye, there was no excuse she could give for that.

"SILENCE!" The king's voice made everyone grow quiet, but not before Jace told their mother that Aemond had called them bastards. Her grandsire moved closer to her uncle. "Aemond, I will have the truth of what happened. Now."

"What else is there to hear?" The queen did not like her son was being questioned. "Your son has been maimed, her daughter is responsible."

Her mother immediately jumped to her defense. "It was a regrettable accident."

"Accident?" The queen spat, glaring at Darya, before looking at her mother. "Princess Darya brought a blade to the ambush. She meant to kill my son."

Darya did not defend herself and did not out that her brother was the one who had the blade. She did not want to cause any more trouble than she already had.

"It was my son and daughter who were attacked and forced to defend themselves!" Her mother moved to stand in front of them. "Vile insults were levied against them."

"What insults?" The king turned to look at her mother.

"The legitimacy of my children's birth was put loudly to question." While Darya appreciated her mother's defense, she was not sure that was an excuse for what she had done.

The king was not pleased. "What?"

Her brother stepped beside their mother. "He called us bastards."

The queen's face paled a bit and everyone in the room went quiet. Her mother was not happy to leave it at that.